By Stephen Vance, Staff
In a classic effort to turn lemons into lemonade, nearly 70 Georgian Bay Secondary School students helped lead a special ‘Amazing Race’ event at Meaford Community School on November 4.
“Due to elementary sanctions, we couldn’t do our ordinary transition day here at GBSS,” GBSS teacher Amy Teed-Acres told The Independent. “So instead we planned a huge Amazing Race program for MCS and BVCS. A total crew of almost 70 students from GBSS helped me to lead and run the program with the assistance of eight teachers. Our Link Crew leaders, Pursuits students and Jazz Band musicians joined the teachers, our principal and a bevy of musical instruments and paraphernalia on two buses bound for MCS in the morning, and BVCS in the afternoon.”
The regular Grade 7 and 8 Day at GBSS had been scheduled for November 4, but due to labour sanctions Teed-Acres had to make the call to postpone the event about a week prior.
“This is the time when our Grade Nines from GBSS head out of the building for the Grade 9 Take a Kid to Work Day, and in their place we usher in all of the Grade 7 and 8 students from MCS and BVCS. It is a fantastic way for elementary students to get a hands-on approach to what life in high school will be like. We walk them through six rotations with demos and activities and then have some lunch activities. This is the second year that we have included all Grade 7 students as well as Grade 8s,” Teed-Acres told The Independent. “I had been to Grade 7 and 8 classes promoting this day a few weeks earlier and I knew that the kids would be disappointed when the day was postponed. I decided that we needed to make a little switch and bring some sort of program to them to keep our forward momentum and to build on the positive school spirit that is so essential to our schools. I got the idea of an Amazing Race based on the popular television show and a race that our physical education teachers held for their students. Over the course of the last two weeks we planned an Amazing Race program for the students with the goal of building communication links between schools, alleviating some of the stress and anxiety students experience with change and emphasizing the small school advantage.”
The hour and a half program included an opening ceremony and activities, the Amazing Race, closing ceremonies and awards along with a pizza lunch for all Grade 7 and 8 students.
“It was an amazing opportunity for Grade 7 and 8 students to meet GBSS student leaders and teachers in a fun, small group setting. They could ask questions while seeing different aspects of our school’s programs and activities in motion. We hosted almost 200 students over the course of the day,” explained Teed-Acres. “We want to invest our time and energy in preparing them for their time at high school so they can feel supported and appreciated. If they feel their connection to our school community then their chances of being successful and reaching their potential grows in amazing and positive ways. I have found that building these connections last year made a huge difference to the comfort level of Grade nine students in their first month of school this year.”
